BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Big Red is at it again, giving the Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers uniforms a brand new look ahead of its Oct. 10 showdown with UTEP at Houchens-Smith Stadium.

On the heels of last year’s new alternate uniforms, which included helmets featuring Big Red in seven different poses for each of the seven different position groups, the beloved mascot has now become one with the Hilltopper helmets. The uniforms are WKU red from head to toe, including red helmets with decals resembling Big Red’s eyes. The facemask for the helmets is black to represent Big Red’s mouth. 

The UTEP matchup will mark the return of WKU’s red helmets, which were last worn in the mid-2000s. The team announced the red helmets would make a return to the helmet rotation in the summer.

WKU said the Oct. 10 game against UTEP will be a Red Out, and fans are encouraged to wear red for the game. There will be 5,000 red towels distributed to fans in attendance.

The Hilltoppers have worn Big Red helmets three times prior to Thursday’s game. The team debuted Big Red helmets on Nov. 12, 2022, for a 45-10 victory over Rice at home. That iteration featured only the Big Read quarterback decal. Last season, WKU unveiled the seven different logos for the Oct. 24 game against Liberty. Both times, the decals were worn on black helmets. For this season’s Sept. 21 matchup against Toledo, the Hilltoppers wore the Big Red quarterback decal on white helmets.

The team has generated quite a buzz with their unique uniforms rebrands recently. According to WKU Athletics, last year’s Big Red decals received over 11 million total impressions on social media and drew stories from all major sports news outlets.